AREAS of Britain were left soaked today after more than a month’s worth of rain fell over just 24 hours.

But all hope is not lost – as forecasters suggest we could be in for a warmer summer than usual.

East News Press Agency

A driver edges out of his vehicle amid flooding in Billericay, Essex

East News Press Agency

A young woman wades through the water following last night’s severe rainfall

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People were caught out by torrential downpours in London yesterday

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Rain has also hit Lancashire this morning, as shopper braved the showers with umbrellas

Santon Downham in Suffolk suffered the worst of the downpours, with 88mm falling since yesterday – compared to Suffolk’s average June rainfall of just 55mm.

But the Met Office’s long-term indications show temperatures in July, August and September may be higher than average.

And temperatures are set to reach as high as 26C in the South East next week.

Forecaster Grahame Madge told The Sun Online: “Next week there’s indications of heat coming up from Southern Europe for a day or so. That’s in the middle of next week.

“Monday is looking like low to mid 20s in the Southern England, so we might see the odd 26C in the South East, possihly 25C in Birmingham.

“But it’s still 10 degrees off what we had last week.”

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A woman shields herself from the rain with a stylish black umbrella in Preston

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Commuters faced heavy rain downpours on their way to work this morning

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Two women attempt to protect their hair from the rain with newspapers

GEOFF ROBINSON PHOTOGRAPHY

Some roads even flooded as a result of the downpours, such as this one in Cambridge city centre

Giving a longer-term prediction, he added: “The indication is that conditions may be a bit warmer. So for July, August, September, the signals that we’re picking up are slightly favouring above-average temperature, they’re more probable than below-average temperatures.”

But for now, the wet weather isn’t over yet – with showers set to continue through this week.

Greg Dewhurst, also a Met Office forecaster, explained: “There’s likely to be more rain. The main band of rainfall is pushing northwards, it’s currently across Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, and it’ll tend to stay around this sort of area.

“It could give another sort of 20 to 30 millimetres or so through the next 12 to 24 hours.”

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He added: “There’s another band of rain which is currently across South West England, which again will continue through the day today. Here we could see rainfall totals of 10 to 20 mm, even a little bit more over higher ground.”

But if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can probably leave the brolly at home – as there’s even talk of some sunshine.

Greg said: “It’s much brighter across Scotland and Northern Ireland today. It’s quite cloudy but there are some sunny spells around, and mainly dry here.”

And after yesterday’s dismal weather in the South East, things will improve today – but there is still a risk of thundery showers returning.

Greg said: “It’s much drier across South East England – we had heavy thunderstorms through the day yesterday and heavy rain overnight.

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A man was spotted struggling with his umbrella in Bolton, Lancashire

“But there is a risk that we could see some thundery showers developing later this afternoon so not everywhere will stay dry.”

In terms of the rest of the week, Greg predicts the weather will remain ‘topsy-turvy’ – but there could be sunshine at the weekend, with temperatures reaching a balmy 22C in the South East.

He said: “It looks like it will continue to stay rather mixed. As we go into tomorrow the rain will push further north into parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and it looks like that rain will come back south again as we go into Friday – so it’s staying fairly unsettled.

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The also rain disrupted the tennis in Eastbourne yesterday

Rex Features

It’s unlikely these lifeguards in Weymouth, Dorset, had much to do as the good weather has well and truly passed

“But there is good news on the horizon, it looks like we’re starting to settle down as we go into the weekend.

“There’ll be some rain across the northern half of the UK at times through Saturday and Sunday and it”ll be quite breezy, but high pressure will start to build in across the southern half of the UK so it’s settling things down.

“It looks perhaps as we go into the weekend, with more brightness around, temperatures will start to come up a bit.”

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